About The Program

The Dyslexia Center of Princeton uses the Jett PHORCE program, authored and tested by Dr. Elaine Jett, and offered under the supervision of the Dyslexia Institutes of American (DIA), founded by Dr. Jett. Although this program for dyslexia shares its multi-sensory approach with a variety of Orton-Gillingham-based programs, it expands significantly upon those programs in several ways.

First, the Jett PHORCE/DIA program provides cognitive therapies that strengthen deficits commonly exhibited by dyslexics, such as visual and auditory memory, visual perception, motor integration, and sequencing. Our approach to addressing cognitive deficits associated with dyslexia goes beyond what is provided in other programs. We provide this additional emphasis because it assists dyslexic individuals in becoming fluent in recognizing new sight words and in retaining and utilizing phonics rules. Our clients' successes prove that this emphasis, and the way it is provided by our program, is beneficial.

The first six months of the Jett PHORCE/DIA program stress cognitive therapy to ensure that each client has the skill level necessary to make successful progress in acquiring and recalling the English language's extensive phonetic rules and sight words. Additional benefits from the cognitive therapy may include enhanced fine motor skills, which can, in turn, improve poor handwriting, and bolster sequential task performance, such as following a series of verbal directions. Our program provides cognitive therapies only as needed based on a client's assessment results. The Dyslexia Center of Princeton does not work only on cognitive therapy in the first six months; we stress it, meaning that we spend more time on it. In the first six months, new sight words are taught and phonics lessons provided.

Second, the Jett PHORCE/DIA program integrates a comprehensive diagnosis that dictates a strictly controlled, monitored, and documented application of the therapy program. The full diagnostic assessment is administered at The Dyslexia Center of Princeton, under the supervision of DIA. The battery of assesments identifies the type of dyslexia present, its severity, and, importantly, specific characteristics that can be individually addressed by therapy, whether those characteristics are phonological or cognitive in nature.

Reading therapists at The Dyslexia Center of Princeton are recruited and trained according to DIA guidelines. They are trained teachers, occupational therapists, and/or speech pathologists who have experience teaching reading to children with learning disabilities. Many of them have previous experience using other dyslexia programs. Our therapists are extensively trained, including many hours of hands-on observation, and are re-certified every 6 months. Extensive records of each session are maintained by the therapist and are open for review by the client or client's guardians at the end of each session. Program progression is controlled by very strict and consistent guidelines.

DIA's clinical and methodical approach to providing therapy provides an unprecedented level of consistency and repeatability. While each learner is different and responds differently to therapy, our clinical approach provides a level of consistency and accountability that does not exist in traditional tutoring environments.

Third, the Jett PHORCE/DIA program includes cognitive and phonological home therapy materials that provide the opportunity for the repetition needed for a dyslexic to learn and retain language skills. It has been shown that without daily therapy dyslexics, do not retain basic skills.

The Princeton Center for Dyslexia uses a variety of assessments, depending upon the age of the client, to determine dyslexia. Some of our assessment materials include, but are not limited to, the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, the Learning Efficiency Test, the Grey Oral Reading Test, the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, Visual Auditory Discrimination, Dyslexia Determination Test, and the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration.